STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- A full-field transition
drill just ended and the Nittany Lions were about to settle into a
half field offense-defense scrimmage when new Penn State men's
lacrosse coach Jeff Tambroni sounded the latest of his hoarse
yells, about two hours into a night practice last week at Penn
State’s Bigler Field.

“We have a lot to learn!” Tambroni screamed from a
catcher’s stance on the sideline, to a few players flipping
reversible white and navy blue Nike pennies after a drill.
“Don’t waste time changing!”

“They’ve been extremely receptive,” Tambroni
would say of the team later.

This is the first fall ball season and the practice was the start
of the second week on the field under Tambroni. His decision this
summer to leave Cornell -- and three final four appearances in the
last four seasons behind -- for Happy Valley was arguably the
biggest news of the offseason.

Penn State’s players realize it.

“We didn’t choose him. He chose us,” sophomore
attackman Billy Gribbin said after that practice, which ended
around 10:30 p.m. “We have one of the best opportunities in
front of us. We feel really special as a team to play under him,
take his lead and go with it.”

Why did he choose them? For those who say money, Tambroni said no,
and that he’s being paid fair relative to the sport of
lacrosse as part of his five-year contract. It’s not $1
million, though, as per one rumor he heard.

“We have to do our job here to earn anything, but
they’ve been very good to us at this point,” he
said.

More than anything, the 40-year-old said he was swooned to State
College by the challenge. Not necessarily on the field, though
there is something to overcome there. The Lions went 2-11 in former
coach Glenn Thiel’s final season.

Tambroni was more tempted by what the opportunity meant in the
larger scope of the sport.

Penn State has long been called a sleeping giant of the Division I
men’s ranks, seemingly with all the resources -- facilities,
central location to recruiting hotbeds, good academic, athletic and
social reputations to attract players -- at its fingertips to be a
national title contender.

“My goal coming down here was to develop and be part of a
program that I thought could establish itself in the mainstream of
college lacrosse,” Tambroni said. “I do believe that
there is no ceiling.”

If Penn State winning a national championship under Tambroni
changes its reputation, so be it. But he isn’t ready to put a
timetable on that and said, most importantly, he wants to enjoy the
building process along the way with players, parents and alumni,
much like he did at Cornell.

As for this season, Tambroni talks about giving the senior class
the chance to win.

“We have to make sure as a current staff that we’re
not looking ahead to one year, three years or five years from now,
which would be completely unfair to the guys that are competing and
playing for this program right now,” he said. “This
group right here, if we can highlight the strengths of this
program, it can provide a wonderful tradition and foundation for
the rest of the players that decide to come here and compete and
play. It’s our job to provide that opportunity for this group
right here. Not in the future when they’re sitting in the
stands.”

Tambroni's wife, Michelle, is a Penn State graduate and former
Lions’ field hockey star. Tambroni said she will be involved
in the field hockey booster club, and maybe eventually coach.

“I never realized it would create that much commotion in the
sport of lacrosse,” he said. “That wasn’t the
end-all of why we came down here. That’s a bonus. It was a
portion of the decision. She loved Ithaca and loved Cornell. Either
way we would have gone she would have been happy and it would have
been a good decision.”

FALL BALL BLITZ

Team: Penn State
2010 Record: 2-11 (1-4 CAA)
2010 In Review: Penn State had a dismal season, starting
off 0-6 and only winning against Hofstra and St. John’s.
Longtime coach Glenn Thiel retired after the season. He was Penn
State’s head coach for 33 years.

Goodbye... Chris Hogan. The midfielder, the
Lions’ fourth leading scorer in 2010, is using a fifth year
of eligibility to play football at Monmouth University, where he is
now a wideout. Hogan left Ramapo High School (N.J.) as the
school’s all-time leader in receptions. He got the itch to
return to the gridiron.
Hello… Matt Mackrides. Technically he never really
left, but Penn State’s leading scorer in 2010 (36g, 8a) was
granted a temporary release from the university after the 2010
season and explored transfer opportunities. When Tambroni was
hired, Mackrides decided to return. Cornell, then coached by
Tambroni, had been among the schools Mackrides considered attending
coming out of Malvern Prep (Pa.). “I had spoken to him on the
phone after he had gotten hired,” Mackrides, a junior
attackman, said. “I was still in the process of figuring out
what I wanted to do with school. Penn State was always there, and I
wanted to come back for the team. I love these guys. When Coach
talked to me, he assured me that this would be the right move for
me. I believed him, and now I can see that it was the right
move.”
Offseason Developments: Tambroni’s hiring aside,
Penn State has injury issues to overcome. Attackman Jack Forster,
who Tambroni said could be the Lions' best offensive player along
with Mackrides, has battled various knee injuries during his
college career. Forster is still recovering from a torn meniscus
injured last May. He is being held out of fall ball practice.
“I can start running in two months, and go from there,”
he said... Also out for the fall is team leader and senior
defenseman Matt Bernier, who tore his ACL in the second to last
game of the 2010 season. “I’m pretty much on the same
timetable as Jack,” Bernier said. “Two months until I
start running, another month after that I start full contact, and
I’ll be good for the spring... Tyler Travis, a projected
starting defenseman as a freshman last year who redshirted after
suffering a season-ending knee injury, also remains sidelined.
“We’re banged up,” Tambroni said.
“I’ve never seen a team so injured on the first day we
come in...” Tambroni rounded out his coaching staff this
offseason, too. He brought in Chris Doctor, who served as offensive
coordinator at Lafayette from 2007 to 2010. The Leopards were
ranked top-10 in the nation in goals per game last season. Peter
Toner was also hired. He served as associate head coach at Bryant,
where in 2010 he completed his third season on the staff as the
program's defensive and recruiting coordinator.

Big Question: What impact does Tambroni have in
year one? Immediately after his hire, fans of the Penn State
program began speculating how long until the Lions reach a final
four under Tambroni. Tambroni’s larger goal, however, is to
create long-term, consistent success for Penn State. But with 21
players from last year’s team returning, how will they look
this season? The top three scorers from 2010 -- Mackrides, Gribbin
and Nick Dolik -- are back, as should be Bernier and defenseman
Billy Davis and Ryan McGarvey, who started seven and six games,
respectively, last season. Dave Baker, the starting goalie as a
sophomore, also returns. “We’ll see,” Tambroni
said. “I enjoy working with this group. They’ve been
extremely receptive to what we’ve asked out there.
We’ve asked them to change their culture and change their
routine. I’ve been most impressed with the seniors.
They’ve been asked to change what they’ve done for the
last three years.” Said Mackrides: “We’re
excited. That’s about it. We’re ready to go.”

Fall Schedule: Penn State scrimmages UMBC at
Sunday at 2 p.m. in State College.